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America’s Best Urban School System Honored

September 26, 2003

Winning the Broad Prize validates the hard work of teachers, staff, parents and community members. The prize goes to the urban school district making the greatest overall improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between high- and low-income students.
The selection jury, composed of leaders in business, government and philanthropy, includes governors and CEOs of some of the nation’s largest corporations and non-profits. More than 100 U.S. urban school districts were invited to compete as eligible candidates. A school district cannot nominate itself.
A review board of education leaders from across the country -- with the help of the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA) -- analyzed more than 20,000 pieces of information about LBUSD achievement. A team of researchers conducted thorough inspections of each finalist district and met with school boards, superintendents, union leaders and parents. In Long Beach, researchers visited Tucker, Hill and Wilson. They also visited Robinson and Poly last year.
Finalist districts all demonstrated consistent high performance or improvement over three years in elementary, middle and high school reading and math. All performed above their expected 2002 performance levels.

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